2 Factor Authentication: Can You Afford NOT to Have It?

Fluidity has become a hot button issue for business owners. More and more, you need fluid streams of capital, fluid business models, and a fluid workforce, able to work from anywhere they need to, on any device they need to. This past year we as a populace have witnessed drastic changes occur to our day-to-day work lives, and more importantly, many of us have seen how much more productive this form of working can be for everyone involved. However, with new advances you end up with new issues, which is why we are

going to talk about a system that comes in a couple of forms, 2FA or two factor authentications, or it’s cousin MFA or multi-factor authentication. With the rise in cybercrime in the United States, a trend that is showing no signs of slowing down, it’s not an issue of whether you can afford to implement 2FA, it’s becoming evident that you can’t afford not to if you have a mobile or semi-mobile work force.

WHAT D 2FA AND MFA DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Let me tell you a story. Sylvia has a company that runs logistics for major trucking companies in the state. These companies rely on her business, at all hours of the day to make sure they are staying on the proper course, and the right materials are going to the right places. Sylvia knows she can’t afford to keep her office space open 24/7, but she needs her

agents to be working at the schedules of the truckers, so she has a large part of her workforce working from home. Unfortunately, her system got breached one day. While she was able to minimize her downtime due to her partnership with an amazing MSP, which let’s just call Delval Technology Solutions, some of her employee login information is still out there. Thankfully, she also opted into endpoint security for her business, including 2FA. Someone tried to login to one of her employee’s accounts, and they were notified when they got a notification from their 2FA system to authenticate the login. They called Sylvia to report the suspicious activity to her and were able to thwart the malicious actor in

their tracks. Her small investment into a 2FA system for her business just saved her thousands of dollars and the trust of her clients. It basically just paid for itself.

HOW DOES 2FA WORK

When users are remotely logging into your network, 2FA gives your business an extra layer of protection to ensure that the authorized person is the one entering the network. There are different tools to use when it comes to 2FA. Some send SMS texts, others use emails, and some use apps that require a push. Either way, the system works as such. An authorized user enters their credentials to log into the network. From there, a message is sent to them via one of the above-mentioned methods, that the user must complete the process, usually entering a code that has been sent, to get into the network. This ensures that no one can get into the network that isn’t supposed to. Best case scenario,

the person trying to access the system is the one who gets in. Worst case scenario, an intrusion can be thwarted by the authorized party receiving a 2FA message

saying someone is trying to get into their network using their credentials.

TYPES OF 2FA

The most common type of 2FA uses the authorized users SMS in order to authenticate them. Once a user inputs their login credentials, username and password, a code will be text to their device that they have to enter. The user then has a certain period (usually five to ten minutes) before the code expires in order to get into their network.

Email authentication is another form of 2FA. Similar to the SMS version, an email will be sent to your address. From there, you may have to click an authentication link, be given a code to input, or even use a QR code on a secondary device. While this is a more versatile form than the SMS based 2FA, it isn’t as widely used because of things like device lag time, and people’s ability to turn email notifications off, which many do if they are usually inundated with spam.

App based 2FA is becoming increasingly more prevalent, and also may be the best for overall security. First the user needs to download an app such as DUO Mobile, or Google Authenticator. From there, when they attempt to login to the network from a new device, or to get in certain parts of the network, they will receive a push notification to an app. From there they will have to enter a matching code to let the administrator and the app know that they are in fact the user. Apps have more features they can use to aid your

security. One aspect that is great for aiding in security is their ability to track the location of the user on both ends. This could be used to stop phishing attacks as the perpetrator is not usually anywhere near the IP of the person assigned to the login. While this may take some additional monitoring, it can be a great way to further protect your network.

Having the ability to be fluid with your work force can be a game changer for many business owners. However, you never want to compromise security for the sake of functionality. Utilizing a 2FA plan for your system is something that is a cost effective way to ensure that you know the person trying to get in is the person you want to get in.  While there is a cost to 2FA, it is far less than the cost of the consequences to your business. Contact Delval Technology Solutions and ask about 2FA today, because you never know what tomorrow will bring to your network.